[MOD] SS_T's X3TC Performance upgrade

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SSwamp_Trooper
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x3tc

[MOD] SS_T's X3TC Performance upgrade

Post by SSwamp_Trooper » Thu, 11. Dec 08, 21:33

See topic at the TXU: http://www.thexuniverse.com/forum/showt ... hp?t=14156

Information
I have just put together a Performance mod for X3TC, i don't know if it has already been done before :). The mod basically contains the shaders from X3:R, one reason i thought about using the x3 reunions shaders is because of the x1 mod.


Download
Version 1.0 download, BETA, 1.06 MB (1,114,112 bytes)
[ external image ]


Results
I haven't tested it much but this is what i got:
(please note: Same sector and similar fps taking. However when i attacked the boron ts it released 3 fighter drones with my mod installed so the may of lowered the fps)
(I have averaged the fps)

X3:TC
Not Fighting:
20fps

Shooting at a boron ts :rolleyes::
15fps

X3:TC with SS_T mod:
Not Fighting:
23fps

Shooting at a boron ts:
16fps

I expected it to be a little bit higher with my mod installed, but those fighter drones may of affected the results. I've only tested it once so i would like to see what you will get


My X3:TC information: If you try it I would like some feed back :)
Last edited by SSwamp_Trooper on Sun, 14. Dec 08, 12:27, edited 3 times in total.

SSwamp_Trooper
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Post by SSwamp_Trooper » Thu, 11. Dec 08, 21:33

ulfius wrote:"Could you give some technical info on how the shaders from X3:R are better than those in X3:TC? I'm interested as to how this works to improve performance."

I'm sorry to say that I don't know much about shaders, however while making the X1 Past and Future mod I experimented in using TC's shaders in Reunion.

I basically copied ALL the shaders from tc into a .cat for the x1 mod and i noticed I general graphical improvement throughout the mod. As the x1 mod has a small universe and less ships than TC it is able to cope with these enhanced graphics.

So i thought I could do it the other way round to improve TC performance.

As for actually proving there is a difference or what shaders are different, i don't know :?, i guess you could say i cheated with this 'mod' :p.

Further updates may be removing unnecessary shaders, but for now It does seem to work, for me at least :).

SSwamp_Trooper
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Post by SSwamp_Trooper » Sat, 13. Dec 08, 13:20

Quotes about it from the TXU:
ulfius wrote:I've been testing this mod and my conclusion is that it does give performance an edge with large amounts of ships present, although performance regarding stations and such seem to be either unaffected or not measurable - though to be fair I was using HQ stations for comparison, it may be because the hew HQ stations use new shaders not covered by this mod.

Please correct me if I'm wrong, (my knowledge of these things is rusty) the main reason this performance increase works is because textures and shaders from X3 reunion are about 1/2 to 3/4 the resolution/filesize of those in x3:TC, thus less render time and smaller pre-cache. Basically: smaller textures take less time to draw, is the simplest way I can put this. Scaling Half resolution of the textures in x3:tc would probably also have a similar beneficial effect.
Sartorie wrote:Shaders are actually small programs that run directly on the graphics card hardware and are used for a variety of effects e.g. organic surfaces, mirrors, water, hull coloring and so on.

If the ones from X3 are less complex they use up less calculation time which is the small performance gain you see. However on older cards with slower shader units this could give significant performance.

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OOZ662
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Post by OOZ662 » Sat, 13. Dec 08, 18:00

Is this a mod that can be installed/uninstalled at will without having to restart a game or do fancy magic? :)

SSwamp_Trooper
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Post by SSwamp_Trooper » Sat, 13. Dec 08, 18:12

Yeah it can be installed and uninstalled without a restart :)

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yospanky
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Post by yospanky » Sat, 2. May 09, 12:30

Hey, first time posting. I'm sorry but I cannot seem to get the Download Link to work. I'll try again tomorrow but THANKS for creating performance enhancing scripts!

sstbrg
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Post by sstbrg » Sun, 17. May 09, 14:17

I know it's a stupid noob's question, but will this reduce image quality significantly?

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arcana75
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Post by arcana75 » Mon, 18. May 09, 17:26

Hi, I'm not familiar with this file mods what, but is it possible to have a version that only contains the roid lower poly mod + ur shader mod? I tried to get the original lower roid poly mod but the link to xai-corp.net is dead.

Or let me know which files pertain to which mod would also help so I can use X3 Editor to take the ones I want.

Thanks!

dargj2
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Post by dargj2 » Thu, 4. Jun 09, 01:52

Download link not working, just a page full of code, any ideas?

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OOZ662
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Post by OOZ662 » Thu, 4. Jun 09, 01:54

dargj2 wrote:Download link not working, just a page full of code, any ideas?
Right click, Save Target As or Save Link Location, depending on your browser.

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SS_T
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Post by SS_T » Fri, 5. Jun 09, 00:29

Firstly, sorry I haven't replied to you questions until now. I had to re-register and so I wasn't notified of a reply.
OOZ662 wrote:
dargj2 wrote:Download link not working, just a page full of code, any ideas?
Right click, Save Target As or Save Link Location, depending on your browser.
Thanks, firefox browsers do have that problem with .spk files. I have a guide about it here: http://www.[blocked due to google malware warning]/x3tc/firefox.html
sstbrg wrote:I know it's a stupid noob's question, but will this reduce image quality significantly?
not significantly, it will just make the game graphics more like x3r. Which isn't to bad.
arcana75 wrote:Hi, I'm not familiar with this file mods what, but is it possible to have a version that only contains the roid lower poly mod + ur shader mod? I tried to get the original lower roid poly mod but the link to xai-corp.net is dead.

Or let me know which files pertain to which mod would also help so I can use X3 Editor to take the ones I want.

Thanks!
You can download the lower poly roid mod from here http://www.[blocked due to google malware warning]/x3tc/index.php, direct download: http://www.[blocked due to google malware warning]/x3tc/do ... medium.spk, the shader mod basically contains the shader files from x3r which normal mods don't contain so there will not be any compatibility issues :)
New XDownloads: http://xdownloads.co.uk

Raumkraut93
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Post by Raumkraut93 » Mon, 29. Jun 09, 08:28

Can anyone tell me what disadvantages this mod has and wether it brings a *modified* into my game?
"Dies ist alles, was ich über den Krieg weiss: Einer gewinnt, einer verliert
und nichts ist nachher so
wie es vorher war."

"Stellt eure Truppen auf, oh große Generäle,
Der Preis des Sieges übersteigt den Preis der Niederlage."

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SS_T
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Post by SS_T » Mon, 29. Jun 09, 15:04

Raumkraut93 wrote:Can anyone tell me what disadvantages this mod has and wether it brings a *modified* into my game?
disadvantages: not as good graphics, but not really noticeable imo

*modified* sign, it shouldn't iirc
New XDownloads: http://xdownloads.co.uk

Snowtiger2.0
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Post by Snowtiger2.0 » Mon, 17. Aug 09, 07:13

Hi

How can i remove this mod?
I want to try playing without it again, but cant seem to get rid of the "SS_T Performance Upgrade"-mark on loading screens, and consiquently the ***modified*** in my stats.

5c0rch!
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Post by 5c0rch! » Mon, 17. Aug 09, 11:20

Have you removed the Cat/Dat files that the mod adds from the X3TC directory?

Once you have the modified tag in your save, it won't go away.
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Liath
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Post by Liath » Thu, 11. Mar 10, 19:01

Ohnoes! Seems like his server is down. Anyone have this still, and can upload it?
If I seem super-critical lately, it's due to having played X2 and X3, which were awesome games. X:R's release was a hard fail, however there *were* improvements, especially with stations, capitals, and capturing/boarding. X4 right now feels like the best parts of X2/3 and Rebirth all got thrown out the friggin window. I'm honestly hopeful that X4 will turn out awesome, but I'm already hugely disappointed in ES as I have seen them do better and really expect more from them.

dragonblue14
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Post by dragonblue14 » Fri, 12. Mar 10, 05:35

He still has mirrors on his site here:
---

edit: removed link. Doesn't look like the site is in use anymore.
Last edited by dragonblue14 on Sat, 30. Dec 23, 17:41, edited 1 time in total.

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Liath
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Post by Liath » Fri, 12. Mar 10, 13:34

dragonblue14 wrote:He still has mirrors on his site here:
http://www.[blocked due to google malware warning]/x3tc/
Thank you. I don't really visit the PUI much because, well... it doesn't seem to be updated much. And the MIME types or something else is off on the server -- have to go through hoops to download, as it doesn't like FF
If I seem super-critical lately, it's due to having played X2 and X3, which were awesome games. X:R's release was a hard fail, however there *were* improvements, especially with stations, capitals, and capturing/boarding. X4 right now feels like the best parts of X2/3 and Rebirth all got thrown out the friggin window. I'm honestly hopeful that X4 will turn out awesome, but I'm already hugely disappointed in ES as I have seen them do better and really expect more from them.

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OOZ662
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Post by OOZ662 » Fri, 12. Mar 10, 13:45

Liath wrote:
dragonblue14 wrote:He still has mirrors on his site here:
http://www.[blocked due to google malware warning]/x3tc/
Thank you. I don't really visit the PUI much because, well... it doesn't seem to be updated much. And the MIME types or something else is off on the server -- have to go through hoops to download, as it doesn't like FF
That's the case with all directly linked SPK files in FireFox. Just right click the link and Save Target As.

It's not updated often because it pretty much has all the performance enhancing mods on it already.

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Liath
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Post by Liath » Fri, 12. Mar 10, 15:36

I can download from any other site fine. It is a mime-type issue int he server configuration. I had my own server for a while, and found that to be an issue myself.

Anyhow, I think it should be updated to reflect the ones that are compatible with 2.5 so that the S&M Sticky can be updated and the purple star removed.
If I seem super-critical lately, it's due to having played X2 and X3, which were awesome games. X:R's release was a hard fail, however there *were* improvements, especially with stations, capitals, and capturing/boarding. X4 right now feels like the best parts of X2/3 and Rebirth all got thrown out the friggin window. I'm honestly hopeful that X4 will turn out awesome, but I'm already hugely disappointed in ES as I have seen them do better and really expect more from them.

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